We often see people being uncertain about the Return-on-Investment from online campaigns. Besides addressing the issue of gender inequality, Sharda Vishwanathan has been reaping the benefits of online activism to gain opportunities for The Red Elephant Foundation.
How are you working towards addressing the problem of Gender Inequality in India?
Every person should have equal access to education to be able to voice out their opinions, make choices and build an impactful life for themselves and their communities. Thus, working towards creating a gender-just society and to engage with the community on addressing various issues around gender inequality has been at the center of my work in the development sector.
I have been working as a communications and outreach professional in the development sector for over four years. Having worked in areas as diverse as Governance, human rights and gender empowerment, I am passionate about using the digital space to empower communities and improve citizen participation at varied levels. My current role as the Social Media and Outreach Head at The Red Elephant Foundation gives me an opportunity to design various digital media campaigns to address issues around gender inequality. While online activism is one aspect of our work, we also look at how the messaging can be translated into actionable outcomes by designing various training programs and workshops to be conducted at schools, colleges, work places and community groups.
What inspires you everyday to pursue your work?
To answer this question, I would like to share my experience with Aidha, a Singapore-based not-for-profit organization that works towards empowering foreign domestic workers (FDWs) in Singapore by providing them financial education and entrepreneurial skills. Singapore is home to a huge community to FDWs who leave their families and communities in the hope of creating better future for themselves and their families. Their earnings are remitted back home which provides the financial help to the families and often they find themselves with no savings at the end of their contracts forcing them to stay back and continue their work as a helper! One can imagine the hardships one faces when you have to live day-by-day and not have any resources to plan for the future. These women work really hard the entire week as domestic work and care-giving is not easy. And despite these hardships, the determination and commitment shown by the women when they come for their Sunday classes (the only weekly off they get) is ever inspiring. Thus, each and every one of them is an inspiration to me and a testimony to my belief that education is indeed a power-changer and can change lives.
What was your childhood ambition? How did you share it with your family and friends?
As I was growing up, I wanted to travel the world and thus, wanted to be a television host for one of the popular travel shows. And gradually this was replaced by my interest in history thus, wanting to pursue a career in archaeology.
Was your educational background targeted towards what you wanted to be? Or did you chart out a different path?
Coming from a community that is known to produce engineers, my family hoped that I would take up science as my major elective and pursue engineering. However, my decision to pursue humanities was met with some resistance as, a career in humanities was and probably even today not considered a ‘real career’. While I earned a Bachelor’s in Economics, my keen interest in exploring gender within the domain of culture and media further encouraged me to pursue my Master’s in Gender, Media and Culture.
Share with us the challenges you faced and the hurdles you crossed
Challenges have been many, the first being that there was no one available to guide me in my journey. As I hardly knew people who had worked in this sector before, there was no network I could go to with my questions. Secondly, lack of financial resources to help you pull through one’s lean period can be a major constraint. But I strongly believe that these hardships often push an individual beyond the boundaries and help overcome the challenges by exploring new and innovative solutions. To not give up and believe in oneself is the answer!
The major hurdle is dealing with, extended family and societal pressure- people often questioning my career choice and doing everything possible to discourage the path chosen by my parents and me.
How would you encourage young women to consider entrepreneurship as a viable vocation?
It’s not easy when one decides to take on an unusual and un-trodden part. More so for women as they have to battle the constant discouragement that women entrepreneurs are often subjected to, coupled with a patriarchal mindset etched in our society. Having said that, I do believe that in the recent years there has been an increase in the number of successful women entrepreneurs who have carved a niche for themselves. And for the young women considering entrepreneurship as a vocation I would say:
- Dare to dream big and take the plunge
- Find your passion and weave it in your profession
- It’s perfectly fine to have your opinions and make your own decisions
- Shut your doors to the constant naysayers around you